The family of an elderly man known in his Georgia community for playing the bagpipes made a shocking discovery days after he suddenly died on vacation in Hawaii.
According to a report by the local outlet Decaturish, the family of 74-year-old Henry Frantz Jr. came across what appeared to be a human skeleton in a treehouse on his property in Decatur — a startling discovery that came after Frantz died during a scuba diving accident while vacationing in Hawaii on March 10.
The outlet reports that Frantz’s family found the skeleton inside a backyard treehouse on his property, prompting them to call police. Atlanta News First and WANF confirmed the report.
Frantz’s daughter, Rebecca Frantz Culpepper, told authorities she believes the body to belong to her brother, Henry Doyle Colon Frantz, who has been missing since 2021, Decaturish reported. Henry was 28 when he suddenly disappeared, according to WANF.
“He left home one day, and he apparently came back,” Culpepper told the outlet.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Decatur Police Department and DeKalb Medical Examiner’s Office for comment. The office’s Chief Deputy Investigator Jess Dillard told WANF that an investigation into the body’s identity is ongoing, though authorities believe it belongs to Frantz’s son and that there’s no foul play suspected.
“We are pretty certain we have his identity, just waiting on dental or DNA,” Dillard told the outlet. “The remains were skeletonized. No obvious signs of injury or trauma.”
Frantz’s daughter told Decaturish that her family rarely went out by the backyard treehouse and that most family members no longer lived locally in Georgia anymore.
Frantz’s musical group, the Atlanta Pipe Band, mourned his loss earlier this month on social media, writing that his “impact on our band and the piping community was immeasurable.”
“His dedication, kindness, and high standards inspired generations of pipers,” the group wrote in a memorial post. “Beyond music, Henry’s curiosity led him to travel the world, explore fossils, and pursue scuba diving. He will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”
